Description

An extraordinary book Mr Gould is an exceptional combination of scientist and science writer He is thus exceptionally well placed to tell these stories and he tells them with fervor and intelligenceJames Gleick New York Times Book Review

High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale It holds the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures liveda forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history